Chapter 1: The Encounter
The Doctor peered at the monitor, gripping tightly onto its hand rail. Bizarre as it was the Tardis had landed, yet it was still moving. The ground beneath his feet was rocky and uncertain. He managed to quickly tighten his bow tie before beginning the pain staking task of staggering to the doors.
"Extraordinary," he mumbled falling into the hat stand that stood proudly in the corner. Snatching at the door latch he finally found his feet and pulled the door open in one swift movement. The cold that struck him was unreal, it chilled him to the core, to where his beating hearts went into shock overdrive. Everything was icy, without fear or caution he stuck his heel out and dug it hard into the glassy floor. A small groove appeared as his force slowed the Tardis from its skidding. Without leaving his sanctuary the Doctor put his hand down to touch the ice. He licked the droplets that he'd caused to melt.
"Completely pure. Brilliant" The Doctor, holding tightly to the Tardis frame, put one cautious boot onto the ice then the other.
"Hey!" A voice yelled. The Doctor jumped, feet slipping from underneath him, he snapped the door shut in his effort to regain his balance. Above his head a snowball like projectile hit the Tardis doors. Getting up again the Doctor shook them for entry but the odd projectile had sealed them with an icy patch. The Doctor, unable to help his curiosity in his time of siege immediately licked the barrier.
"Amazing" he pondered as his legs slipped from under him once again as another attack hit the already sealed doors. His head smacked hard against the shiny floor and the dull ache that proceeded hindered his vision slightly.
That was when he noticed that everything around him was made of ice. The high ceiling, the pillars, the walls, the windows, the delicate chandelier. He scrambled behind the cover of his Tardis as another ice blast hit where he'd just been laying.
"Don't shoot!" He yelled, daring to peer around the corner a final blast hit the time machine throwing a puff of snow over the Doctor. He blinked the specks out of his eyes and blew out harshly, "Will you cut that out?! I'm not armed! Look!" He raised his hands over his head and slid himself out of cover. He was confronted by a beautiful blonde, no more than 20 years old, her big blue eyes were wide. She held a hand outstretched towards him, but not to aid him. The Doctor continued to slide his feet in her direction. "I'm friendly," he reassured her.
"Don't come any closer" she warned.
"I swear I'm friendly"
The Doctor soon realised where the ice blasts had come from as she launched one from her fingertips to freeze his feet to the floor. He looked down at his encased boots. "Oh that is very not good," he looked up and offered her an apologetic smile, "I'd love to stay prisoner in this but I don't have the energy to regrow two feet if these ones become frost bitten. So you'll have to excuse me"
He withdrew from his tweed jacket his sonic screwdriver, took aim, and in a surge of sonic power blasted the ice block into pieces. He beamed once more, tossed the device up in the air, caught it and pocketed it, "Now then, shall we have a chat? Nice cup of tea?"
She stood frozen, like a statue.
"Erm, this is a great ice palace you've got here, you built it yourself?" The Doctor shielded his mouth with his hands and blew out in an attempt to warm up, "No heating? My ship is warm inside. Well, if you'd let me open it?" He gently pulled the screwdriver from his top pocket again. With the blonde's silent permission he shot a blast at the ice lock. It burst into dust and obediently the door swung open, "I'm the Doctor by the way, you are?"
She continued to keep her cool and stared almost frostily at him.
"I didn't mean to land in your palace, my radar didn't show a structure here, but if the entire thing is made of ice then my ship wouldn't have seen it anyway, you're sort of, invisible, up here" Taking her hint finally he nodded briefly and turned to enter the Tardis.
"Elsa" she said quickly tucking her hand away from its outstretched position. The Doctor turned slowly, finally she seemed to melt.
"Well then, Elsa, tell me, how did you come to be up here?"
It didn't take too long for the Doctor to unravel the crystalline mystery of Elsa. He sat in the open doorway of the Tardis, legs outstretched, with the warmth of the Tardis to his back. She preferred to sit cross legged opposite him on the ice, seemingly shooting ice from your hands also meant that you couldn't feel the harsh temperatures.
"... So you just ran?" The Doctor folded his arms looking only mildly concerned.
"They think I'm a monster, and Doctor, they're right"
"No Elsa, no, no, no. You're special don't you see? You were born with this, it's a gift, a very special gift. Look at what you've done here, you can harness it, do beautiful, creative things"
"My people live in fear of me Doctor, an eternal winter is here and I don't know how to undo all that I've done"
"An eternal winter?" He shook his head in complete misunderstanding.
"I've frozen the kingdom Doctor, and I don't know how to fix it, I don't know how to thaw out the ice I create"
"Arendelle is Frozen?"
"To the core"
"You've had this talent since birth and you never worked out how to thaw out the ice?"
Elsa shook her head sadly. The Doctor looked at her in bemusement, "Help me out Elsa, how did you control it before, well before this?" He waved his hand to indicate the ice palace surrounding them. Without a word Elsa showed him the gloves she'd worn for almost every single day of her youth.
"Oh, well now, that makes sense. And you can't freeze anything with them on?" Again the runaway Queen shook her head, "Interesting, and do you feel anything in particular when you, you know, freeze things? Hate? Anger?" He watched her expression carefully, "Fear?" He grabbed her bare hand quickly, his whole hand froze instantly. Elsa pulled away sharply before the ice could creep further up the Doctor's forearm. He winced and examined his iced hand.
"I didn't mean to, goodness, you're a mad man" Elsa tugged her gloves on hurriedly not wanting this crazy Doctor to try any other crazy things with her uncontrollable powers. He tapped at his frozen hand and once again pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He took readings from almost every inch, upon further inspection he realised that it was in fact still creeping up his arm, without Elsa's input.
"Yes!" He cried wasting no time in attempting to break up the ice as he'd done before with the sonic blast, "I'm definitely a mad man," he frowned slightly when the ice didn't break apart. Thankfully it no longer continued creeping up his forearm. The Doctor looked up suddenly to Elsa, "You've literally turned my hand to ice, every molecule, every single one"
"I'm sorry," she pleaded, "I'm sorry"
The Doctor turned his frozen hand over, "I've never been frozen before, it's pretty cool" The Doctor chuckled at his own joke, until he realised that Elsa was anything but amused, "Oh Elsa, don't worry, I've been through worse things, trust me"
He stood up and looked around the ice palace, now darkened with the setting of the sun. The escaped Queen looked completely miserable. The Doctor thumbed with his good hand towards the Tardis interior, "My home is quite different to yours, I'll show you?"
With only a small glance around her lonely, temporary palace, Elsa agreed to follow him inside the Tardis.
Elsa's eyes lit up as her gaze landed on the spectacular interior, "It's so..."
"I know," the Doctor beamed.
"It's very warm too," Elsa admitted. The Doctor saw the tiniest bead of sweat forming on her forehead. His eyebrows furrowed very slightly before he typed a hurried command into the console to lower the temperature.
"When you were growing up," the Doctor leant back against the console unit, "How did you find the summers?"
"Oh I never left my room growing up Doctor," Elsa clasped her gloved hands together in front of her, "I only saw summer from the window"
"Why didn't you go outside?"
"Protection"
"No one would have hurt you it makes no..."
"Their protection, from me" The Doctor's puzzled stared forced her to continue, "I froze my sister's head when we were little, by accident. The magic I produce was removed from her, along with the memory of my powers. So I had to stay away, I can't control it, it was too dangerous. If someone's heart were to become frozen, then that's it. It's a death sentence"
"I think it's safe to say that the gloves are only a temporary measure then," the Doctor pulled the Tardis screen towards him, "Full scan," he instructed. Immediately an image of Elsa appear with a bizarre swirl of Gallifreyan data surrounding her, "We'll have to think of something more permanent so that you can go home to your sister and your kingdom without accidently freezing everyone"
"Anna won't miss me. I was horrible to her. So horrible" Elsa hugged herself despite finding no comfort in it, "it's better that I stay away"
"Hey, I'm sure she's more concerned about you going home safe than a little argument," The Doctor put his glasses on to examine the screen, "You're very interesting Elsa. The Tardis can't detect anything different in you," he removed his glasses, "Does anyone know about this power you have?"
"The trolls," Elsa replied calmly.
The Doctor couldn't help but giggle, "Trolls?" he chuckled trying hard not to belly laugh. Elsa frowned at him, all trust gained with him crumbled instantly and the Doctor sensed it, "I'm sorry Elsa," he pleaded as she turned to the door, "It's been a long time since I've encountered trolls" The Snow Queen ignored his pleas and slammed the Tardis door shut behind her. He hurried to catch her, and burst out into the iced ballroom. The Queen was stood frozen looking up at the high ceiling. The Doctor followed her line of vision and saw that the chandelier was visibly shaking, ice crystals fell from it cracking the delicately crafted floor. Elsa stole a glance at the Doctor at her cost as the chandelier detached and hurtled towards her. The Doctor ran as fast as he could on the slippery floor and just managed to throw himself at the Queen in time to cause them both to land and slide away from the crashing decoration. He shielded her face with his jacket as they were engulfed in sharp ice shards. When the ice cloud settled the Queen lay beneath him a look of fear radiated from her deep blue eyes. The Doctor carefully stood, took her gloved hand and lifted her up close to him.
"I think we're under attack," he uttered calmly withdrawing his sonic screwdriver.